Who is Bridgit Mendler? Actress-turned-entrepreneur invites applications for positions at Northwood Space

Former actress Bridgit Mendler garnered much attention on Monday, December 30, when she posted a job listing for her startup, Northwood Space. Through her official X (formerly Twitter) handle, Mendler invited applications for roles like Chief of Staff, Operations Engineer, Test Engineer, Firmware Engineer, and many more.

For those unaware, the Good Luck Charlie star is serving as the CEO of Northwood Space, aimed at producing ground stations that communicate with satellites. Mendler co-founded her El Segundo-based space startup with her husband, Griffin Cleverly, and Shaurya Luthra. Cleverly serves as the CTO of Northwood Space, while Luthra is head of software.

Earlier this year, the ex-Disney Channel star had penned a LinkedIn post about her business venture,

“At Northwood, we’re rethinking infrastructure for satellite backhaul from the ground up. We have our sights on building a data highway between earth and space. We are designing shared ground infrastructure from first principles to expand access to space.”

While Bridgit Mendler’s entrepreneurial role might have surprised most of her fans, she has, time and again, proven to be versatile in terms of her skills. Here’s everything about Mendler’s career as an actor and an entrepreneur, along with her educational background.

From a Disney Channel star to starting a space startup – A look at many talents of Bridgit Mendler

Many remember Bridgit Mendler for her acting work and music career. She started as a child artist and transitioned into a professional actor in her adulthood while also pursuing her music career parallelly. She retired from showbiz in 2019, but by then, Bridgit had already done many films and TV shows.

Her films include Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, Studio Ghibli’s The Secret World of Arrietty (English voice role), The Clique, and many more. At the same time, she appeared in TV productions like Wizards of Waverly Place, Good Luck Charlie, Undateable, and more. Her last TV show was Merry Happy Whatever.

On the educational front, Mendler pursued anthropology at the University of Southern California (USC) but dropped out in 2016. In 2018, she started a graduate program at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and completed her MS in media arts and sciences in 2020.

Besides her MIT degree, Bridgit Mendler also earned a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School in May 2024. The 32-year-old entrepreneur was also pursuing PhD from MIT simultaneously with her JD but is currently on leave, as per her LinkedIn. In March 2024, she posted on X,

“I am 2 months away from a JD and I don’t already have a PhD. The PhD is something I started working towards in 2020 and I pursued it jointly with my law degree but when I moved to California last summer and decided that for family reasons we would stay on the west coast, it had to go on pause.”

As mentioned, Mendler started focusing on her space startup in 2023 after co-founding Northwood. In February, she announced getting $6.3 million in investment during the initial funding rounds from Founders Fund, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Also Capital, Long Journey, BoxGroup, and Humba Ventures.

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“Expect the unexpected! – So excited to announce our $6.3M seed led by @foundersfund and @a16z with participation from @CapitalAlso, @LongJourneyVC, @BoxGroup, @humbavc – At @NorthwoodSpace we have our sights on building a data highway between earth and space. We are designing shared ground infrastructure from first principles to expand access to space.”

On the personal front, Bridgit Mendler has been married to Griffin Cleverly since 2019. Together, they are fostering a baby boy, which Mendler confirmed through an X post in February 2024.

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